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Bottle conditioning temps

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Tonyctitan

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Jun 5, 2013
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Location
Harrisburg
I bottled my very first batch last week. It's a brewers best Irish stout. I currently have my bottles conditioning in my basement (behind my bar) the room temp hovers around 66 to 68 degrees. I see a lot of people stating that an ideal conditioning temp is around 70. Are my bottles ok at the current temp or should I move them upstairs? My upper level temp hangs around 77 is that too hot?

M
M
 
Youre fine at that temp, it could take a few days longer then normal or it could not. Give it 14-21 days and try one out, closer to 21 is ideal.
 
Don't stress, all of those numbers are okay. I let my doppelbock carbonate in a wine fridge that was much lower than that. Since I was letting it sit for four months anyway I didn't worry about it. That beer is wonderfully carbed and bottle aged.
 
I like to carb up my IPA's at higher temps (70-75) so they carbonate in about one week so I can drink them while they still have fresh hop aroma!
 
I'm a relatively new brewer, and because of space limitations, I actually bottle condition in my uninsulated garage. With summer approaching, that garage is going to get nice and toasty sometimes. I'm not terribly worried though.

I could be wrong, and for those with more knowledge, please feel free to correct me, but I look at it this way...

Leaving it a little too cold could slow down the yeast, just like with the primary fermentation. Leaving it a little too warm could produce an off flavor, I would think, just like a primary fermentation, but....

In a 5 gallon batch the typical 5 oz. of corn sugar raises the OG, per Brewer's Friend, by 0.003. So, even if the yeast are warm and produce an off flavor, they can't produce very much of it with only 0.003 of SG to munch on.

Yeast too warm munching through 1.050 wort, for example, would in my mind be a completely different story, as there'd be a lot more opportunity for them to produce an off flavor.

Guess this is a terribly long-winded way for me to say... room temp probably good, as the community so often suggests, but if you're warmer or colder than that when carbonating, don't sweat it. It's a long way from being too warm or too cold during a primary fermentation.
 
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